Special Delivery!

Our new dining room table and chairs finally arrived! 

They look great set against these newly cleaned and fixed windows!  My parents spent several days working on them - stripping and applying new paint, and generally applying some TLC.  The windows had been covered with sheer window treatments, but we plan to leave them open now to enjoy the new windows and the great view of our holly bushes outside.

Sunday Morning Biscuits

One of my favorite things about the weekend is getting up before Cillian and making a special breakfast.  There's little that beats these simple rolled biscuits, following the basic recipe from Joy of Cooking.

Ingredients:
- 1 3/4c flour
- 4-6T butter
- 1T baking powder
- 1/2t salt
- 3/4c milk

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Combine the dry ingredients.  Using a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour until it is in pea-sized pieces.  Add milk and mix just to combine.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface and kneed a couple of times.  Pat out to about 1/2 inch thick, lightly coat with flour, and fold in half.  Repeat this procedure about three or four times.  This will ensure that when the biscuits come out of the oven, they have lots of horizontal flakes and split easily.

Bake at 450 for about 15-20 minutes, until golden.

Serve with butter, jam, and honey.

Cleaning Up

We survived Irene last night.  The wind was definitely blowing, but luckily our house is still secure and dry.  A large tree just around the corner came down, causing that block to lose power. 

We're so grateful that our huge oak tree in front of our house weathered the storm just fine.

We'll all be cleaning up for a while toady, but the sun is supposed to come out later today, and it should be a sunny and dry finish to the weekend.

Getting Ready for Baby!

In between all of our travels the past two months, we've been trying to get everything ready for the arrival of our little girl in October! 

My parents painted the nursery several months ago, this beautiful soft buttery yellow, so we had a great backdrop to start with. I had also made the chicky quilt before I even knew I was pregnant, so that worked out well!

 

We still have a lot of work to do, particularly getting things hung on the walls.  I also need to finsih a few sewing projects, including the window valence and curtain, covering the cushions on the glider, making a fabric insert for the wicker basket for the changing table, and making pillow cases for two square pillows for the glider.  We still have a lot of work to do, but we're getting close!



Borough Food Market

Sorry for the long delay since my last post!  What have we been up to the last few weeks?  A lot of fun!  At the end of July we spent 10 days in England with Cillian's family in what will likely be our last international trip for a while.  We scheduled the trip around Cillian's cousin's wedding, which was beautiful and a great time.  Then the bride and groom were gracious enough to host us later that same week in their London home and show us the sights. 

One highlight of our time in London was the trip to Borough Market.  This is a huge food market where vendors sell everything from flavored oils and spices to sweets to fresh raw cheeses to street food ready for eating.  It was wonderful!  For any true food lover, you cannot leave London without a visit here.  Plan to spend at least a few hours!

Borough Market is located a short walk from the London Bridge tube stop and bus terminal.  Although it is in the heart of London and close to many other sights, we definitely wouldn't have found it without Dave and Eve's guidance.  If you make it to Borogh Market, I definitely recommend getting there before the lunch hour, buying some goodies, and then sitting to eat on the lawn of the adjacent Southwark Cathedral.